Yesterday evening, at the “palm cloister” of the “S. Lt. MOVM Giuseppe Cangialosi”, in the presence of the General Commander, Army Corps General Andrea De Gennaro, the Fiamme Gialle of Sicily and Calabria celebrated the 250th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Guardia di Finanza in Palermo, enhanced by the ceremony of rotation in the position of Interregional Commander of South-Western Italy.
During the celebration, in the presence of the highest institutional authorities of Sicily and Calabria, before a representation of military personnel from the different specialties of the Corps, the National Association of Italian Financiers (ANFI) and the newly formed professional associations of a trade union nature, some awards were given to personnel who particularly distinguished themselves in service and rescue operations. Touching moments were the delivery, to their respective families, of the War Merit Cross to Financier Vincenzo Ganci, who fell on 10 July 1943 in the battle of Gela during the war operations of the Second World War, and a commendation to Col. Maurizio Pellegrino who recently passed away. Afterwards, Corps General Rosario Lorusso, after two years at the helm of the inter-regional command, handed over the reins to Corps General Antonino Maggiore, coming from the central air-naval command, where he directed the entire air-naval sector of the corps.
Between 2023 and 2024 over 9000 investigations
In 2023 and in the first five months of 2024, the Sicilian financial police carried out 13,322 inspections and 8,955 investigations to combat economic-financial crimes and the infiltration of crime into the economy: an “all-round” commitment to protect families and businesses, destined to further intensify to ensure the correct allocation of the resources of the national recovery and resilience plan. The inspection activities made it possible to identify a total of 611 tax evaders, i.e. those carrying out business or self-employment activities completely unknown to the tax authorities (many of whom operate through electronic commerce platforms) and 4,410 illegal or irregular workers. Furthermore, 43 cases of international tax evasion were discovered, mainly attributable to hidden stable organisations, transfer price manipulation, fictitious tax residences and the illicit holding of capital across borders. There were 1,055 individuals reported for tax crimes, of which 14 were arrested.
The anti-smuggling activities led to the identification of 25,607 kg of foreign manufactured tobacco consumed fraudulently or subjected to seizure and to the reporting of 88 subjects. The checks and investigations against illegal gambling made it possible to discover 78 clandestine betting collection points and to report 123 perpetrators.
